Govt should own responsibility on power cuts: YSRCP

YSR Congress has said that the Kiran Kumar Reddy government should own up the responsibility for the consequences arising out of the unprecedented power cuts which are affecting agriculture, industrial and many other sectors.

“The inefficiency and lack of governance is glaring as the government could not foresee the yawning gap between the supply and demand of power consumption but it has been proactive in increasing the tariff to collect over Rs 34,000 crores,” party official spokesperson Gattu Ramachandra Rao told reporters here on Tuesday.

No effort was put in by the government to meet the deficit of 100 Million Units (MU) per day in summer as the priorities of the Kiran Kumar Reddy government lie elsewhere, he said.

The acute power cuts have affected crops in an extent of over 25 lakh acres, more so in upland areas. Mostly small and medium scale farmers are being pushed into the lurch as they are sandwiched between high power tariff and erratic power supply.

Industrial sectors is also bearing the brunt with the government asking the units to take a 12 day holiday while the power cuts are resulting in a 15 day holiday. Nearly 1.80 lakh industrial units have been shut down and over 20 lakh workers are rendered jobless, he said.

More units will be downing their shutters due to lack of power and many more workers will be rendered jobless. Being exams time, students are also badly hit due to power cuts.

“The state was forewarned by the officials about the impending power shortage but the government did not take any action nor looked at alternative options and has pushed the state into darkness as done by the Chandrababu Naidu in his nine-year term,” he said.

YSRCP Honorary President YS Vijayamma had led the party by holding dharnas against the power cuts and hike in power charges, while the main TDP had no mention of the serious issue anywhere which shows how indifferent it is to people’s problems, he said.

YSR has promised 9 hour free power supply in the 2009 election manifesto but the Congress government has went back on the promise and is putting the consumers to several hardships, he said.

On BJP allegations against Brother Abil Kumar, he said, the BJP spokesperson is parroting TDP-prepared script without even verifying the facts. He has been leveling allegations without going into the details.

While BJP leader Sushma Swaraj told in the Parliament that YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is being harassed by Congress and CBI is being used as a tool, the local leader has been talking the language of TDP. (INN)